"The first reaction is "What are you doing?" Svitolina comments on the vile act of Belarus' No. 1

Famous Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina said she expected such behaviour from the top-ranked player of Belarus. Immediately after the match at Roland Garros, Arina Sobolenko approached the net and defiantly waited for a handshake from our compatriot.

Svitolina had previously said many times that she would not shake hands with rivals from Russia and Belarus. She did not shake hands with Arina this time either, which led to the Ukrainian being booed by the crowd.

"My first reaction was something like this: "What are you doing?" Because at all my press conferences I voice my clear position. Arina may not be on social media during tournaments, but in my opinion, everything was very clear. I have repeatedly made statements that I would not shake hands, and she also played Marta in the first round. So everything is quite simple in reality," Elina was quoted as saying by BTU.

Answering the journalist's question, Elina agreed with his opinion that by standing at the net in this way, Sobolenko had aggravated the situation a little.

"I think that's true, unfortunately," the Ukrainian tennis player responded briefly.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, Svitolina lost to Sobolenko in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros. The match lasted 96 minutes and ended with a score of 6-4, 6-4.

It will be recalled that Svitolina beat Daria Kasatkina in the 1/8 finals. After the game, the Russian showed Elina an unexpected gesture.

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